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Depends on what the concentration of a business degree is
Management/International Management/Information Systems, etc.- Yeah
Finance- In some cases
Accounting- No
Accounting is the language of business (aka most useful/best opps unless you go to a wharton-like school where finance is best). MIS grads are basically CS-lite people that often don't get jobs because they lack the quant skills CS people have.
Accounting is the language of business (aka most useful/best opps unless you go to a wharton-like school where finance is best). MIS grads are basically CS-lite people that often don't get jobs because they lack the quant skills CS people have.
1. Actually accounting is not the language of business, I dont know where you got that. Most people in business do not speak "accounting" at all, and you will spend much of your time as a corporate accountant trying to dumb it down and package it for "business leaders".
2. I can agree that accounting is probably the most useful degree in the business field, simply because it provides the MOST employment opportunities (and I said as much in my post by saying that toilet paper wasnt more useful then that degree, and I think you read my post inversely judging from your forehead slap icon). However, they are not always the best opportunities. Many accountants are poorly paid.
You should probably read a post more carefully before going on the offensive dude.
1. Actually accounting is not the language of business, I dont know where you got that. Most people in business do not speak "accounting" at all, and you will spend much of your time as a corporate accountant trying to dumb it down and package it for "business leaders".
2. I can agree that accounting is probably the most useful degree in the business field, simply because it provides the MOST employment opportunities (and I said as much in my post by saying that toilet paper wasnt more useful then that degree, and I think you read my post inversely judging from your forehead slap icon). However, they are not always the best opportunities. Many accountants are poorly paid.
You should probably read a post more carefully before going on the offensive dude.
First off, I'm sorry if the offended you (especially since it wasn't for you). It wasn't meant to be insulting or anything, I just hate when people dismiss business as automatically being worthless, which the other guy said. That was for him, not you. I just quoted improperly, but that's why there was a gap between that and my paragraph.
But I still disagree with you to some extent. I've done some more reading on accounting, and it's the basis for almost everything in business. Even investment banking involves a lot of the principles of accounting. Don't believe me? Ask the people on wallstreetoasis.com how important accounting is. Is the "language of business" moniker a bit overrated? Probably, but it is still fundamental to much of what goes on in business, which is where that comes from. Furthermore, unless you go to HYPSW-like schools or have incredible connections, accounting has the potential to open lucrative doors for you, moreso than marketing or even finance. If you suck at accounting then of course you won't be paid well, but the same goes for marketing. Besides, if you think some accountants are paid poorly, you should see some people that graduate with marketing degrees.
Getting back OT, I've heard businessweek has pretty crazy methodology for their rankings and that usually people go by US News Rankings. On Wall Street, overall street reputation and connections are probably even more important than US News Rankings, since HYPS, which aren't ranked due to lack of a biz school do as well as wharton in term sof placement.
But I still disagree with you to some extent. I've done some more reading on accounting, and it's the basis for almost everything in business. Even investment banking involves a lot of the principles of accounting. Don't believe me? Ask the people on wallstreetoasis.com how important accounting is.
The basis? Yes. We all know every business must boil down to debits/credits, and the tax man, at least in most post industrial economies. The thing is though, the only people that tend to speak that "language" are mostly the accountants. In that respect, its kind of a "secret" language if you will. However, the business leaders making decisions for the business, not so much. They speak dollars and cents, but they rarely speak debits and credits. Big chunks of corporate accounting minutes are spent trying to bridge debits and credits to dollars and cents. If your business leader can at least read an income statement, then you fought some of the battle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jumpman023
Furthermore, unless you go to HYPSW-like schools or have incredible connections, accounting has the potential to open lucrative doors for you, moreso than marketing or even finance. If you suck at accounting then of course you won't be paid well, but the same goes for marketing. Besides, if you think some accountants are paid poorly, you should see some people that graduate with marketing degrees.
I completely agree that accounting is the best overall business concentration. Finance is probably the only other concentration that even carries value at all. I cant imagine why anyone goes in to other concentrations of business.
By the way, many times, in real life, you are not (and in fact, rarely outside of sales) compensated based on your talents, so it doesnt neccessarily matter if you "suck" or are good.
I would feel bad for anyone really believing in that list. Even though I am not a Wharton (I went to it’s closest competitor), there is no doubt that Wharton’s undergrad program is top notch. These rankings like Number #1 or #11 don’t matter. The strength of the curriculum, professors, and placements of graduates should be most important factors.
With no insult to the schools listed in that article, Wharton is still the best.
I would feel bad for anyone really believing in that list. Even though I am not a Wharton (I went to it’s closest competitor), there is no doubt that Wharton’s undergrad program is top notch. These rankings like Number #1 or #11 don’t matter. The strength of the curriculum, professors, and placements of graduates should be most important factors.
With no insult to the schools listed in that article, Wharton is still the best.
I think Sloan at MIT has a good program too, doesn't it? Not as good as Wharton, but I think they do well on placing in high finance jobs.
Understanding financial statements and how accounting practices work and business regulations is extremely important. 100% essential to business.
Understanding how to actually create a balance sheet and construct the statement itself isn't important to anyone outside of accountants.
People in the investment business absolutely must understand how to look at a 10-K and interpret the information. It's important to have a basic understanding how the financial statement is made, but for people in finance it's the numbers that are important, not how the debits/credits/etc are constructed.
Accounting is definitely not the language of business, but if you don't know anything about accounting you're in trouble. You don't need to major in accounting to get the requisite knowledge of financial statements and interpretation of accounting information. You probably need 2-3 accounting classes for this and a couple classes in valuation, finance and investments to get the finance side.
I didn't major in business in undergrad (have MBA) so I am not sure how much of this is covered at the undergraduate level. My guess is any reputable program will take this - my understanding is most undergrad finance classes are very simplistic unless it's a top business school. IMO accounting is probably the best business major at the undergrad level unless you go to a very good undergrad business school (think like UT-Austin, PSU, U Illinois - top publics - or better) in which case you can get in with a good consulting company or a lower end investment bank or some more general management program if you major in business administration.
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